Aight today I got something a lil different for ya, but my fellow crate diggers out there will be feeling this one.
Sometimes you just need a “lil something” to throw into your tracks, not a full chorus or verse, but some random sound bites that add to the situation.
We’ve all dug in records, vhs tapes, 8 tracks, tv programs, etc…to find those random vocal samples…
Well know…you can just go to a folder .
Let’s checkout Cylinder Vocals
What is Cylinder Vocals?
Basically, it’s a bunch of vocal samples from an old school recording device.
Before records, before tape, before the gramophone lol…yeah…OOOOOOOLLLLLLLLD School!
The Crate Diggers label worked with the UC Santa Barbra Cylinder Preservation Society and Digitization Project….heck yeah that’s a long name.
Basically what this means is these are from original recordings between 1890 and 1929.
They were digitized, mastered, all that good stuff…but they still sound old, crusty and funky.
Quick Specs
- content: 465 24bit wavs
- format: one shot wav samples
- price: $23.95
How does it sound?
Old lol, it’s just a bunch of old sounding vocal snippets, sentences, phrases, words, etc.
They broke them down into categories including city life, love and women, technology, sentences, words, music, geography, money, etc.
They sound like some old vinyl honestly, very crusty and crackly…maybe even an old radio sound to them.
They are useful, if you like to spice up tracks with vocals, a lot of classic hip hop would use snips and vocals like this.
The right phrase or vocal can sometimes fill in a track way better than an instrument.
You won’t just make beats with this library, it’s more of that “extra” that we sometimes look for
So what’s the bottom line?
I find these useful, like many of you, sometimes I like to mess around with random vocals in my tracks.
Good for making instrumental tracks/projects, or adding some variety to your own songs.
I’m sure you can find tons of creative use for these.
I give this library a 3.5 out of 5 subs. It’s good and usable, but more of an “extra” than anything else.
Those that love digging and chopping will see the use for them immediately.
They sound old, as they should, and they add character…as they should.
Check them out at soundstosample.com : Crate Diggers Cylinder Vocals
let me know what ya think, I thought they were pretty cool.
Reminds me of those really old movies that I “still” watch. Sounds like stuff that the Bomb Squad would use back in the day for Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Slick Rick, etc to add to the story that the artist’s lyrics were telling. Not a bad library to have…never know when it might come in handy.
@Madbull Studios, def got that classic crate digger vibe going on for sure, like you said, you never know when you can use a sprinkle or two lol.
What’s good man?
Those vocal samples are crazy! Are they royalty free? Meaning can we use them in our own commercial, for-profit, productions without having to pay anyone? LOL…
@Marcus Manderson, yessir, once you buy it, you can use it however you want in your products, as long as you don’t make another sample library and use them in it lol.
But music, commercial, for profit, etc…yes
I am going to grab it. I think I can have some fun with it. Thanks again SaintJoe
@Myke, yeah, they are cool to mess with, of course you can chop stuff up etc, but it just has that classic vibe to it.
I like the idea an all but not diggin on how cut the samples are. when i go diggin for samples like this i tend to leave a bit of the open scratchy sound off the end of the sample. with out it the samples tend to sound more jarring in the mix. sure there are ways to work it out but I’d rather dig for the real originals and play with em… takes more time but worth it. great review as always. thanks.
@flux302, yeah I feel you on the tails…of course I’d most likely use that ahd and let the tail of the vocal fade out a bit instead of playing all the way through if I was really making a track, but thanks for the input, that’s real talk!
I am ALL ABOUT samples like these! The good thing about this pack vs. the DVD you can get from Digital-Redux is I can hear that the vocals are chopped. The Digital-Redux DVD is whole segments of Cylinders, old movies etc. I do not have the packs from Loopmasters on this.
And you didn’t mention the best part! Part of the proceeds from this sample pack go to the society so they can keep these sounds preserved for future enthusiasts and producers.
@Coruscate aka The Incomplete Orchestra, No doubt! And you are right I forgot to mention about the proceeds!! Good catch lol, that’s an important part of the pack as well! Good news for us crate diggers lol.
This is great stuff. I record my own music, and I’ve been grabbing audio from old movies and running it through auto tune. This has a great sound to it though, and I can’t wait to use some of these samples. So today when I watched your review, I just HAD to have this sample library. I bought it a few minutes ago and I’ll start using it this weekend. Thanks for the review!
@Mark, no doubt man, that sounds like a nice workflow as well, always about being creative man, good stuff!
Pretty cool, I been doin this with old radio shows for a while, you never know what kind of sound quality you will end up with tho, these seem to be be restored incredibly well considering the age.
Relic
@Relic, exactly, I know a lot of us that do this type of thing, so it’s good to have a huge pool of random stuff that we don’t have to worry about royalties or anything on lol. Just another tool of course!
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diggin’ the user replys for this release. I like the suggestion of leaving some of the static/noise tail on the ends of the samples. Will incorporate this into upcoming releases in the series.
@James Johnson, cool, thanks for the response!
you could use it in a scrach using a DV program like trackor that would sound good
@bigwev, yep, that’s another good way to use it
Good find here.
My guy found a whole series of albums from Folkways that reminds me of this style of stuff.
A lot of this can be used tho’.
better ambiance in instrumental joints and fillins fa sure.
-elek
@Elektric Soundtraq, no doubt, very useful for sure.